Ethan Sam, BSc (Expected April 2027)
Rank
Undergraduate Student
Department
"Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine"
Authors
Ethan Sam, Sohyung Lee, Xinyang Chen, Lingyun Zhu, Shumaim Barooj, Nancy Li, Jeffrey M Karp, Yohannes Tesfaigzi, and Nitin Joshi*
Principal Investigator
Nitin Joshi
Twitter / Website
Categories
Lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, affect millions globally. Biologic treatments show great promise by targeting specific pathways and providing sustained effects. However, systemic injections often lead to off-target effects due to non-specific biodistribution. Also, since a small percentage of the injected dose reaches the lungs, high doses are required. In contrast, local administration via inhalation delivers medications directly to the lungs, enhancing therapeutic effects while minimizing systemic side effects. Yet, inhaled biologics face challenges in crossing physiological barriers in the lungs, such as mucus and the epithelium, to reach the deep lung parenchyma. Additionally, biologics, as labile molecules, are susceptible to degradation by enzymatic activity and other physiological conditions, which can reduce their efficacy.
To address these challenges, we have developed a nanoparticle platform that stabilizes biologics without the need for excipients or chemical modification, while enabling effective penetration through lung barriers. Our data show that this platform targets deep lung tissue, prolongs residence time, and is fully cleared from the lungs. These findings suggest strong potential of this nanoparticle platform for improving the localized delivery of biologics for treating lung diseases.